Teej
This game is worth playing if you are into platformers. It is definitely one that is easy enough for a newcomer to video games to pick up too. It's definitely a better game than Kirby Star Allies, as you can actually enjoy it playing solo and it won't feel so empty like the other game without friends. As with about every Kirby game ever created it has him fighting some super strong enemy that can either destroy a planet/universe/manipulate dimensions as the final boss (It really is just a running gag of having this cute puff ball fight these serious strong characters at the end). There isn't much story in this game, but that isn't a detractor as that of course is not what the game is meant to be played for, same as Super Mario Bros. games.
Pros:
1. Cute, beautiful looking game.
2. Solid soundtrack.
3. Enjoyable platformer overall that has a bit of a challenge for those who seek it (This is pretty much how all Kirby games are. Easy overall for the newcomer, but can be challenging also for video game veterans with the optional stuff).
4. The post game content is surprisingly good, but still quite short.
5. The copy abilities all feel powerful. They did a really good job of making them all feel unique and strong in their own right. Upgrading them all feels really good to do too and worth it.
6. The time trial challenges in the game are quite fun, and honestly I wish more were added through DLC or even just as a separate Kirby game like Toad Treasure Tracker from Mario 3D World.
Cons:
1. Game is too easy, even with its challenging segments. The dodge mechanic if used makes the game laughably easy.
2. Restrictions are put on Kirby's flying ability where he can't fly forever (Never tried the easy mode, so not sure if it's different there), and he can't go as high as he wants. It's not really a con, but for me I view it as so because it just feels off not letting Kirby fly as he pleases just to make it feel more like a Super Mario Bros. game. The game punishes you for flying anyways by making your travel speed really slow which is fine, it just irked me from playing past Kirby games (I am being extremely nitpicky on this point. They restricted Kirby's flying ability in this game, so the platforming wouldn't be broken in the game, it was done for the sake of the game, which is fine).
3. The figure collecting was not for me, and I also did not like how the game would stop me in my tracks for a few seconds every time I collected a random collectible in a stage. I'm just not a huge fan of virtual collectibles in games anymore.
Pros:
1. Cute, beautiful looking game.
2. Solid soundtrack.
3. Enjoyable platformer overall that has a bit of a challenge for those who seek it (This is pretty much how all Kirby games are. Easy overall for the newcomer, but can be challenging also for video game veterans with the optional stuff).
4. The post game content is surprisingly good, but still quite short.
5. The copy abilities all feel powerful. They did a really good job of making them all feel unique and strong in their own right. Upgrading them all feels really good to do too and worth it.
6. The time trial challenges in the game are quite fun, and honestly I wish more were added through DLC or even just as a separate Kirby game like Toad Treasure Tracker from Mario 3D World.
Cons:
1. Game is too easy, even with its challenging segments. The dodge mechanic if used makes the game laughably easy.
2. Restrictions are put on Kirby's flying ability where he can't fly forever (Never tried the easy mode, so not sure if it's different there), and he can't go as high as he wants. It's not really a con, but for me I view it as so because it just feels off not letting Kirby fly as he pleases just to make it feel more like a Super Mario Bros. game. The game punishes you for flying anyways by making your travel speed really slow which is fine, it just irked me from playing past Kirby games (I am being extremely nitpicky on this point. They restricted Kirby's flying ability in this game, so the platforming wouldn't be broken in the game, it was done for the sake of the game, which is fine).
3. The figure collecting was not for me, and I also did not like how the game would stop me in my tracks for a few seconds every time I collected a random collectible in a stage. I'm just not a huge fan of virtual collectibles in games anymore.
This review contains spoilers
The same great game, but with even better graphics and almost no load times.
I was not sure if the level design would hold up to today's standards, but it definitely does.
Since I have not written a review for the Gamecube version, I will do my typical Pros and Cons below:
Pros:
1. Fantastic graphics for the time it came out, and even better graphics today. The graphics for this remaster put a lot of remasters to shame and even the graphics of many Wii U and Switch games to shame.
2. Great level design. The backtracking in this game is fun to do, like with many Metroid games and it's even better with there being about no load times now.
3. Great platforming, especially for a first-person shooter.
4. Its bosses and mini-bosses are fun and well designed. They feel a bit on the easy side for me, but that may be because the last time I played this game was when I was a kid, and me being familiar with the game by now.
5. Fantastic music that is definitely the best of its trilogy.
6. The load times for this remaster are crazy short. No longer like on the Gamecube version would I hit a door and have to wait there for seconds for it to open. Now it's just about instant every time. Really keeps me immersed more feeling like I am actually there.
7. The lighting is better in this remaster, making it easier to see where I'm going in areas that are supposed to be easy to traverse that you do not need any of the visors for.
8. Just about all of the upgrades are fantastic, meaningful, and are a real joy to use. They did a great job of making me feel stronger every time I got a new power-up. The only power-ups that felt eh were the missile upgrades for the beam upgrades. By the time you get them there isn't really anyone to use them on besides Ridley and Metroid Prime, and they don't do much to them. The Super Missile Ice Beam upgrade seems to be the best one, but you're better off just using regular Super Missiles with your Power Beam.
9. You have multiple ways to play in this game. I heard about them bringing the Gamecube playstyle back, but I had no idea you can also play the game just like its Wii port back in the day. There are 3 playstyles: New one, Gamecube, and Wii. Only other better thing they could have done beyond this would be to let you map your controls to whatever buttons you wanted them on, which sadly they did not do. The new dual-stick playstick feels very well done and to me feels like the best way to play the game. I love the novelty of being able to switch back to the Gamecube and Wii playstyles as they are still both great ways to play. I also heard you can connect your Gamecube controller to play this game too if that floats your boat, which is another awesome callback they really did not need to do! If this is how Metroid Prime 4 will play, then I am definitely here for it!
Cons:
1. Artifacts. The biggest con of this game and its sequel. I wrote about this in my review of the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes mentioning this game. It sucks to have a goose hunt for many keys to unlock the final area of the game having you run all across the game for them. I can at least say collecting them in this game is not as bad as in the sequel. Despite there being more to collect in this one, you can start collecting them much earlier in the game unlike the sequel where you can't really collect them until you last few upgrades. The hints while still being vague are not as vague as the sequel. Again, sucks to have something like this to pad the game out when it does not need this. If I want to explore the world further I will do it for fun. I should not have to for keys that give me no extra power.
2. There are not a lot of bosses in this game. The sequel makes up for that, but that's a small gripe.
3. Even though the platforming is great for a first-person shooter, there a few hiccups here and there just to be transparent.
4. This is a very small gripe, as this is an optional thing to do, but the room in the Chozo Ruins with the long and drawn out Spider ball track is oof. Using the half-circle to boost my way up to the track was unreliable. The other part of the narrow walk way as a ball was fine, it was just the half-circle part that frustrated me.
If you play this game and say it's ass or mid I would be speechless.
I was not sure if the level design would hold up to today's standards, but it definitely does.
Since I have not written a review for the Gamecube version, I will do my typical Pros and Cons below:
Pros:
1. Fantastic graphics for the time it came out, and even better graphics today. The graphics for this remaster put a lot of remasters to shame and even the graphics of many Wii U and Switch games to shame.
2. Great level design. The backtracking in this game is fun to do, like with many Metroid games and it's even better with there being about no load times now.
3. Great platforming, especially for a first-person shooter.
4. Its bosses and mini-bosses are fun and well designed. They feel a bit on the easy side for me, but that may be because the last time I played this game was when I was a kid, and me being familiar with the game by now.
5. Fantastic music that is definitely the best of its trilogy.
6. The load times for this remaster are crazy short. No longer like on the Gamecube version would I hit a door and have to wait there for seconds for it to open. Now it's just about instant every time. Really keeps me immersed more feeling like I am actually there.
7. The lighting is better in this remaster, making it easier to see where I'm going in areas that are supposed to be easy to traverse that you do not need any of the visors for.
8. Just about all of the upgrades are fantastic, meaningful, and are a real joy to use. They did a great job of making me feel stronger every time I got a new power-up. The only power-ups that felt eh were the missile upgrades for the beam upgrades. By the time you get them there isn't really anyone to use them on besides Ridley and Metroid Prime, and they don't do much to them. The Super Missile Ice Beam upgrade seems to be the best one, but you're better off just using regular Super Missiles with your Power Beam.
9. You have multiple ways to play in this game. I heard about them bringing the Gamecube playstyle back, but I had no idea you can also play the game just like its Wii port back in the day. There are 3 playstyles: New one, Gamecube, and Wii. Only other better thing they could have done beyond this would be to let you map your controls to whatever buttons you wanted them on, which sadly they did not do. The new dual-stick playstick feels very well done and to me feels like the best way to play the game. I love the novelty of being able to switch back to the Gamecube and Wii playstyles as they are still both great ways to play. I also heard you can connect your Gamecube controller to play this game too if that floats your boat, which is another awesome callback they really did not need to do! If this is how Metroid Prime 4 will play, then I am definitely here for it!
Cons:
1. Artifacts. The biggest con of this game and its sequel. I wrote about this in my review of the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes mentioning this game. It sucks to have a goose hunt for many keys to unlock the final area of the game having you run all across the game for them. I can at least say collecting them in this game is not as bad as in the sequel. Despite there being more to collect in this one, you can start collecting them much earlier in the game unlike the sequel where you can't really collect them until you last few upgrades. The hints while still being vague are not as vague as the sequel. Again, sucks to have something like this to pad the game out when it does not need this. If I want to explore the world further I will do it for fun. I should not have to for keys that give me no extra power.
2. There are not a lot of bosses in this game. The sequel makes up for that, but that's a small gripe.
3. Even though the platforming is great for a first-person shooter, there a few hiccups here and there just to be transparent.
4. This is a very small gripe, as this is an optional thing to do, but the room in the Chozo Ruins with the long and drawn out Spider ball track is oof. Using the half-circle to boost my way up to the track was unreliable. The other part of the narrow walk way as a ball was fine, it was just the half-circle part that frustrated me.
If you play this game and say it's ass or mid I would be speechless.
Felt weird to play this game after playing the remakes of DQ7 & DQ8 on the 3DS, as it felt like I was going back in time to the Super Nintendo era with the lack of voice acting, worse graphics, and a feel that feels very similar to DQ3. Speaking of which this game feels like I am playing DQ3 but with a different story.
I played this game in 2022, so unfortunately the online play was already removed and this game feels like a shell of its former self from what I have read online. The game was made around the online play, so that's where the real meat of the game is.
It's a typical Dragon Quest adventure like all the others. They bring alchemy back from DQ8 and have it where you can change classes once again, but when you change classes this time it has more of a mmorpg feel like from FF14 where your level resets to level 1. This game is very grind happy, as it was made with many side quests in the base game and post game, and DLC (That you will have to use an action replay to access now), all the classes to level up and max out skill points for, items to craft through alchemy that will be the best in the game, post game dungeons, grottos, and perhaps some more stuff I do not know about. You are definitely intended to spend 100s of hours playing this game, which is fine if you want to do so. You can also just spend 25 to 30 hours beating the main story of the game if you are wanting to experience all of the Dragon Quest mainline games like I am currently doing.
It is definitely not needed to do any of the side stuff or even reclass even once to beat the main story. I beat the final boss at levels ranging around 40-42. As long as you have equipment from the the latest town, are around level 40 with a balanced party that includes a mage, priest, and martial artist monk you should be fine. You will have to abuse Oomph, Sap, Acceleratle and Multi-Heal but that's it. That's how I did it anyways.
It's unfortunate that you cannot speed up or skip the animations in battle like the previous re-done DQ games, but that's probably because I played remasters or remakes of the other DQ games, whereas this game has never been ported and remastered to my knowledge.
I can quite imagine how easy it is to break the balance of this game if you start reclassing and levelling up the other classes, as I have heard that stats you gain from other classes stay with you as you go into other classes to a certain extent.
It's possible that I will re-visit this game and do the side quests, grottos, level up the classes and such, but not right now.
I played this game in 2022, so unfortunately the online play was already removed and this game feels like a shell of its former self from what I have read online. The game was made around the online play, so that's where the real meat of the game is.
It's a typical Dragon Quest adventure like all the others. They bring alchemy back from DQ8 and have it where you can change classes once again, but when you change classes this time it has more of a mmorpg feel like from FF14 where your level resets to level 1. This game is very grind happy, as it was made with many side quests in the base game and post game, and DLC (That you will have to use an action replay to access now), all the classes to level up and max out skill points for, items to craft through alchemy that will be the best in the game, post game dungeons, grottos, and perhaps some more stuff I do not know about. You are definitely intended to spend 100s of hours playing this game, which is fine if you want to do so. You can also just spend 25 to 30 hours beating the main story of the game if you are wanting to experience all of the Dragon Quest mainline games like I am currently doing.
It is definitely not needed to do any of the side stuff or even reclass even once to beat the main story. I beat the final boss at levels ranging around 40-42. As long as you have equipment from the the latest town, are around level 40 with a balanced party that includes a mage, priest, and martial artist monk you should be fine. You will have to abuse Oomph, Sap, Acceleratle and Multi-Heal but that's it. That's how I did it anyways.
It's unfortunate that you cannot speed up or skip the animations in battle like the previous re-done DQ games, but that's probably because I played remasters or remakes of the other DQ games, whereas this game has never been ported and remastered to my knowledge.
I can quite imagine how easy it is to break the balance of this game if you start reclassing and levelling up the other classes, as I have heard that stats you gain from other classes stay with you as you go into other classes to a certain extent.
It's possible that I will re-visit this game and do the side quests, grottos, level up the classes and such, but not right now.
If I played this game back when it first came out it would have been a 5 out of 5 experience for me, but that's just not how it all panned out for my experience. It's an old game, so of course things in it have not aged well, and I could technically say the same for a game like Super Metroid if I were to play it and judge it without my nostalgia glasses on just to be fair.
Instead of doing a pros and cons list like I generally do, I will just talk about the good and bad about each thing I think is important for the game below:
1. Maps- The maps are big, and are the biggest of any Fire Emblem game I have played, so it definitely has that to set itself apart from the other entries. There are multiple objectives and castles to seize, and you could say that seizing each castle is its own chapter in itself. It does a good job of making each map feel like a war with how long and drawn out they are. I won't get into specifics about each map, but of course some are better or worse than others in the game and you can tell the creators tried their best to have different things happen in each chapter. The only thing that makes having maps this big bearable or fine is it being coupled with a save feature, so you do not have to worry about spending way over an hour or even multiple hours to beat a chapter in one sitting or leave the game running. Typically you cannot save in the middle of a chapter in a FE game, but the maps in this one are so big I see why they let you do it. Some maps can be boring, and some can be awesome, but most feel like a slog unfortunately. The maps feel too big at times, even for cavalry units. Foot units are so bad in this game because of their lack of movement, so unless the unit is really good you are not going to want to bother waiting for them to catch up. There were a good bit of times for me where I just spent turns moving units trying to get to the next objective. It is what it is, the map size is a preference thing overall, but it could be improved with a remake.
2. Hidden Items- Let me preface by saying you do not need any of the hidden items to beat this game, as overall it is not a hard game (Mostly because of the built-in save feature, although this game's difficulty is harder than most of the newer FE games), but this game suffers from the old cryptic game syndrome where it has hidden items, conversations, and other secrets that the game does not tell you about at all or does not do a good job of telling you about. The only ways you are going to encounter these secret items and conversations are by getting lucky and stumbling across them, using a walkthrough or official Nintendo guide if there was one. Some hidden items are fine to stay hidden as they make the game too easy, but I am of the mind that the holy weapons should not be hidden with how important to the story they are. I know they are not as well-hidden as other stuff after looking at a guide after beating the game, but I missed them myself and it just feels crazy you can miss them, like Forseti and Yewfelle.
3. Unit Balance- I ain't saying FE has generally good unit balance in most of its games, but I think it's worse or more obvious in this one. Cavalry units are about the only ones worth using, unless the foot units are broken in someway like Shannan. Some cavalry units are still not good in both generations where you struggle to make them work to where you feel like you would have an easier time just having your busted units run through the game instead of trying to use your other weaker units.
4. Story- I see why people say the story in this one is the best of the series or at least up there. I think it's either the best story in the series for its time that it came out (Meaning the story got worse as it aged due to advancements in storytelling and what you can do in video games now), or still among the best in the series. There are some things in this game that should have been better explained or not left vague, and some plot holes or what not, but what happens in chapter 5 is one of those wow moments if you have not been spoiled on this game's story yet. I unfortunately was to a certain degree before I played the game, so it is what it is.
5. Arena- This is a fun mechanic, but later on it drags and gets boring with how many units you have to use it for and how you can't skip the animations for each round.
6. Trading- Sucks that you gotta sell items to a pawnshop to then buy it for double the value with another unit in order to trade. Gold is easy to get in this game cause of the arena for units that can complete it, but it's definitely a product of its time. If this game were made today I believe you would be able to freely trade without using this as a mechanic.
7. The bandits pillaging the villages are on it in this game. You gotta be on your toes to get every village safe from them, as they do not play around and wait for you to turtle or take your time.
8. Generations- My first time playing this game I did not bother stressing about any love matches for kid stats and all that, I just played the game and what happened, happened. I found Generation 1 to not be as fun as Generation 2. Generation 1 is more for the story and to gawk at how cool Sigurd is I feel. Generation 2 I feel has better designed maps and more fun units to use than in Generation 1.
9. Combat speed- Even with combat speed set to fast and animations off each turn takes a while to get through. It has the same issue that most older FE games have, and that is turn speed. I literally went to go take a dump during one of the enemy phases, and when I came back the enemy phase was still going on.
10. Sleep staff- Bro, just bro. The sleep staff is busted for the enemies. They have infinite uses, and its range is yuuuge, and has a 100% success rate?! This really slows the pace of the game down on the last few chapters where enemies abuse it. I'm glad I had a restore staff, but still when you got 6 or 8 ppl lullabying you to sleep every enemy phase, just oof man, oof. I got through it, but that was not fun. It was definitely an experience.
Overall good game that is still good despite its age. Hoping for a remake eventually, as I think one would really give this game a time to shine overseas, since it never was officially localized.
Instead of doing a pros and cons list like I generally do, I will just talk about the good and bad about each thing I think is important for the game below:
1. Maps- The maps are big, and are the biggest of any Fire Emblem game I have played, so it definitely has that to set itself apart from the other entries. There are multiple objectives and castles to seize, and you could say that seizing each castle is its own chapter in itself. It does a good job of making each map feel like a war with how long and drawn out they are. I won't get into specifics about each map, but of course some are better or worse than others in the game and you can tell the creators tried their best to have different things happen in each chapter. The only thing that makes having maps this big bearable or fine is it being coupled with a save feature, so you do not have to worry about spending way over an hour or even multiple hours to beat a chapter in one sitting or leave the game running. Typically you cannot save in the middle of a chapter in a FE game, but the maps in this one are so big I see why they let you do it. Some maps can be boring, and some can be awesome, but most feel like a slog unfortunately. The maps feel too big at times, even for cavalry units. Foot units are so bad in this game because of their lack of movement, so unless the unit is really good you are not going to want to bother waiting for them to catch up. There were a good bit of times for me where I just spent turns moving units trying to get to the next objective. It is what it is, the map size is a preference thing overall, but it could be improved with a remake.
2. Hidden Items- Let me preface by saying you do not need any of the hidden items to beat this game, as overall it is not a hard game (Mostly because of the built-in save feature, although this game's difficulty is harder than most of the newer FE games), but this game suffers from the old cryptic game syndrome where it has hidden items, conversations, and other secrets that the game does not tell you about at all or does not do a good job of telling you about. The only ways you are going to encounter these secret items and conversations are by getting lucky and stumbling across them, using a walkthrough or official Nintendo guide if there was one. Some hidden items are fine to stay hidden as they make the game too easy, but I am of the mind that the holy weapons should not be hidden with how important to the story they are. I know they are not as well-hidden as other stuff after looking at a guide after beating the game, but I missed them myself and it just feels crazy you can miss them, like Forseti and Yewfelle.
3. Unit Balance- I ain't saying FE has generally good unit balance in most of its games, but I think it's worse or more obvious in this one. Cavalry units are about the only ones worth using, unless the foot units are broken in someway like Shannan. Some cavalry units are still not good in both generations where you struggle to make them work to where you feel like you would have an easier time just having your busted units run through the game instead of trying to use your other weaker units.
4. Story- I see why people say the story in this one is the best of the series or at least up there. I think it's either the best story in the series for its time that it came out (Meaning the story got worse as it aged due to advancements in storytelling and what you can do in video games now), or still among the best in the series. There are some things in this game that should have been better explained or not left vague, and some plot holes or what not, but what happens in chapter 5 is one of those wow moments if you have not been spoiled on this game's story yet. I unfortunately was to a certain degree before I played the game, so it is what it is.
5. Arena- This is a fun mechanic, but later on it drags and gets boring with how many units you have to use it for and how you can't skip the animations for each round.
6. Trading- Sucks that you gotta sell items to a pawnshop to then buy it for double the value with another unit in order to trade. Gold is easy to get in this game cause of the arena for units that can complete it, but it's definitely a product of its time. If this game were made today I believe you would be able to freely trade without using this as a mechanic.
7. The bandits pillaging the villages are on it in this game. You gotta be on your toes to get every village safe from them, as they do not play around and wait for you to turtle or take your time.
8. Generations- My first time playing this game I did not bother stressing about any love matches for kid stats and all that, I just played the game and what happened, happened. I found Generation 1 to not be as fun as Generation 2. Generation 1 is more for the story and to gawk at how cool Sigurd is I feel. Generation 2 I feel has better designed maps and more fun units to use than in Generation 1.
9. Combat speed- Even with combat speed set to fast and animations off each turn takes a while to get through. It has the same issue that most older FE games have, and that is turn speed. I literally went to go take a dump during one of the enemy phases, and when I came back the enemy phase was still going on.
10. Sleep staff- Bro, just bro. The sleep staff is busted for the enemies. They have infinite uses, and its range is yuuuge, and has a 100% success rate?! This really slows the pace of the game down on the last few chapters where enemies abuse it. I'm glad I had a restore staff, but still when you got 6 or 8 ppl lullabying you to sleep every enemy phase, just oof man, oof. I got through it, but that was not fun. It was definitely an experience.
Overall good game that is still good despite its age. Hoping for a remake eventually, as I think one would really give this game a time to shine overseas, since it never was officially localized.
2021
Story was trash, but gameplay was pretty good. At times the Switch could not seem to handle the game. I really enjoyed the side quests and exploration.
Great game. May not be as good as Superstar Saga, but not far behind it. I wish the Mario & Luigi games that came out after this one and debatably Bowser's Inside Story did not stray as far as they did in what made the first two or three so good. Great combat, story keeps you interested. Game gets challenging towards the end.
2023
This game must have went through development hell similar to FF15 or something because it's rough around the edges. Square Enix just doesn't do it like they used to and it's sad.
Pros:
1. Graphics are great. At times I feel like GOW Ragnarok looks a smidge better, but its very close.
2. The music is good, but not the best in the series.
3. The abilities you can use are really fun to just use in general. Very flashy and feel good.
4. The story, although very slow, if you keep with it does get really good. With every Final Fantasy game it falls off at the very end with abstract fighting God stuff.
5. The voice acting is great.
6. Sound design is great. With surround sound it is a bit weird that background sounds from explosions or characters talking behind you get crazy loud.
Cons:
1. The story is way too slow and too long. So much standing around nothing happening. I must have ADHD or something but man it was hard to sit through all those cutscenes. At times the game showed too much of the little stuff like it wanted to be an MMORPG at one point.
2. The combat feels as simple as Dynasty Warriors, and when you later in the game get a bunch of abilities it feels like about all you are doing is spamming abilities instead of auto attacking because that's just the better thing to do. You just press square four times then triangle for a fire blast when auto attacking and dodge when you are about to get hit. I'm fine with the combat being simple, but when the enemies are as much of sponges as they are it makes for long and boring fights.
3. The side quests are typical filler content you find in MMOs. I did them at first until they bored me and I never looked back. I never regretted it too because the main story has filler main quests you have to do that feel like were there to pad the game out more than it needed.
4. Why in the crap can I not run with a button at any time? This also made the game very slow. Only time you can run is when you get to an open area and are jogging for a few seconds. I see reasons why they did it this way, but it sucks overall for the speed of the game. I think this is another game that was either not optimized well enough for the PS5, or it pushes the system too far. I believe if you could just run at any time that even with performance mode on the frames would drop due to you moving too fast and the game not being able to keep up generating things. I believe it's also done to let everyone in the story say the lines they are scripted to say, so you do not move too fast and get into a cutscene that stops them in the middle of their sentence (I did not do the side quest to unlock a chocobo and just found out you could get one by doing a certain side quest, so I am not sure if that would have fixed this issue of mine. This quest should have been part of the main story but ah well).
Before I got to the middle of the game I was contemplating giving this a 3 out of 5, but the story made me rethink things. It ain't the best ever I've experienced, but it's serviceable with some good stuff in it.
Pros:
1. Graphics are great. At times I feel like GOW Ragnarok looks a smidge better, but its very close.
2. The music is good, but not the best in the series.
3. The abilities you can use are really fun to just use in general. Very flashy and feel good.
4. The story, although very slow, if you keep with it does get really good. With every Final Fantasy game it falls off at the very end with abstract fighting God stuff.
5. The voice acting is great.
6. Sound design is great. With surround sound it is a bit weird that background sounds from explosions or characters talking behind you get crazy loud.
Cons:
1. The story is way too slow and too long. So much standing around nothing happening. I must have ADHD or something but man it was hard to sit through all those cutscenes. At times the game showed too much of the little stuff like it wanted to be an MMORPG at one point.
2. The combat feels as simple as Dynasty Warriors, and when you later in the game get a bunch of abilities it feels like about all you are doing is spamming abilities instead of auto attacking because that's just the better thing to do. You just press square four times then triangle for a fire blast when auto attacking and dodge when you are about to get hit. I'm fine with the combat being simple, but when the enemies are as much of sponges as they are it makes for long and boring fights.
3. The side quests are typical filler content you find in MMOs. I did them at first until they bored me and I never looked back. I never regretted it too because the main story has filler main quests you have to do that feel like were there to pad the game out more than it needed.
4. Why in the crap can I not run with a button at any time? This also made the game very slow. Only time you can run is when you get to an open area and are jogging for a few seconds. I see reasons why they did it this way, but it sucks overall for the speed of the game. I think this is another game that was either not optimized well enough for the PS5, or it pushes the system too far. I believe if you could just run at any time that even with performance mode on the frames would drop due to you moving too fast and the game not being able to keep up generating things. I believe it's also done to let everyone in the story say the lines they are scripted to say, so you do not move too fast and get into a cutscene that stops them in the middle of their sentence (I did not do the side quest to unlock a chocobo and just found out you could get one by doing a certain side quest, so I am not sure if that would have fixed this issue of mine. This quest should have been part of the main story but ah well).
Before I got to the middle of the game I was contemplating giving this a 3 out of 5, but the story made me rethink things. It ain't the best ever I've experienced, but it's serviceable with some good stuff in it.
2021
This game was a complete letdown for me. The original game this one was supposed to be a reimagining of blows this one out of the water.
1. It feels too much like an arcade game at times (The save the Mudokens from being killed as they climb up into the train multiple times as an example).
2. I dislike the shoved-in crafting system that is just about pointless.
3. I played the game on release, and while the PS5 version I played was for the most part not-buggy, I every now and then encountered bugs that were visual, and I found myself having to reset to the beginning of the level or the checkpoint due to the guards being too close or acting weird, essentially soft locking from progressing. To top it all off, when I beat the game I encountered a bug that gave me a black screen where the game just did not play the ending cinematic, so I had to YouTube all of the endings to figure out which one I got.
This is literally a trash chucker game. You run around collecting trash to throw said trash at guards repeatedly. I do not know why they thought having the player throw trash every 5 minutes at someone was what the core gameplay should be. I can tell this game went through development hell. There are so many poorly designed levels that you will die repeatedly due to that. I am fine with dying in a game if it was due to me just needing to get good, but no there is so much random chance in this game, you are just meant to die until you magically get through. Maybe the game is much better after the patches it received, I do not know, but I know it will still end up being Trash Chucker the game with poorly designed levels.
1. It feels too much like an arcade game at times (The save the Mudokens from being killed as they climb up into the train multiple times as an example).
2. I dislike the shoved-in crafting system that is just about pointless.
3. I played the game on release, and while the PS5 version I played was for the most part not-buggy, I every now and then encountered bugs that were visual, and I found myself having to reset to the beginning of the level or the checkpoint due to the guards being too close or acting weird, essentially soft locking from progressing. To top it all off, when I beat the game I encountered a bug that gave me a black screen where the game just did not play the ending cinematic, so I had to YouTube all of the endings to figure out which one I got.
This is literally a trash chucker game. You run around collecting trash to throw said trash at guards repeatedly. I do not know why they thought having the player throw trash every 5 minutes at someone was what the core gameplay should be. I can tell this game went through development hell. There are so many poorly designed levels that you will die repeatedly due to that. I am fine with dying in a game if it was due to me just needing to get good, but no there is so much random chance in this game, you are just meant to die until you magically get through. Maybe the game is much better after the patches it received, I do not know, but I know it will still end up being Trash Chucker the game with poorly designed levels.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Very faithful remake of the original. Original was already easy, and they made it more easy with this remake. Overall this game is made by fans of the original for fans of the original. That's definitely the audience this game is marketed towards.
Pros:
1. The post game content is short but fun. It made me wish there was more. Culex 3D was hype. It's corny, but I thought it was so cool that he came back in 3D form for a rematch saying he's stronger.
2. It's nice for those who do not have the SNES copy of the game to be able to buy this instead of paying anywhere from 50-100 dollars for a copy from some collector online. Sure you can also pirate the original game for free, but at the same time that could be said of this Switch remake too.
3. The triple team moves are a nice addition, but not needed. It's just something extra you can do in the game to have more fun.
4. Being able to easily teleport to other parts of the map with a few buttons presses is a great quality of life change.
5. I view it as a pro, but others can view it as a con as it makes the game easier, but seeing an ! mark of when you can press a button to do well-timed attacks and blocks is a great quality of life change, as it lets the player know what they are messing up on if they do not get the timing down.
Cons:
1. This game is short, but that's no surprise to anyone who played the original. At the same time the game being short is also a nice thing, as many games nowadays overstay their welcome and become a chore to finish.
N/A
1. On this remake I feel like there should have been voice acted lines, as this remake just feels empty during its many cutscenes of text running across the screen. I understand it's a faithful remake and so they did not want to ruin it with bad voice acting, but there could be an option to turn it off if you don't like it.
2. Comparing this game to other games of 2023 it's definitely not as complex, which is a good or a bad thing depending on who you are.
Pros:
1. The post game content is short but fun. It made me wish there was more. Culex 3D was hype. It's corny, but I thought it was so cool that he came back in 3D form for a rematch saying he's stronger.
2. It's nice for those who do not have the SNES copy of the game to be able to buy this instead of paying anywhere from 50-100 dollars for a copy from some collector online. Sure you can also pirate the original game for free, but at the same time that could be said of this Switch remake too.
3. The triple team moves are a nice addition, but not needed. It's just something extra you can do in the game to have more fun.
4. Being able to easily teleport to other parts of the map with a few buttons presses is a great quality of life change.
5. I view it as a pro, but others can view it as a con as it makes the game easier, but seeing an ! mark of when you can press a button to do well-timed attacks and blocks is a great quality of life change, as it lets the player know what they are messing up on if they do not get the timing down.
Cons:
1. This game is short, but that's no surprise to anyone who played the original. At the same time the game being short is also a nice thing, as many games nowadays overstay their welcome and become a chore to finish.
N/A
1. On this remake I feel like there should have been voice acted lines, as this remake just feels empty during its many cutscenes of text running across the screen. I understand it's a faithful remake and so they did not want to ruin it with bad voice acting, but there could be an option to turn it off if you don't like it.
2. Comparing this game to other games of 2023 it's definitely not as complex, which is a good or a bad thing depending on who you are.
2022
This review contains spoilers
This game took me by surprise. It's great. It's beginning is a tiny bit slow, but it does not take long to get going. I think its story is better than any Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics game I have played. The combat is solid too with a lot of depth.
The only things I could nitpick would be:
1. The cutscenes lasting too long or there being too many, but the story gets so interesting I eventually did not mind it and wanted to see the story develop further than even play the battles.
2. The enemy AI even when you fast forward them will stand there for a good bit before moving. I guess it takes some time to load or for the AI to decide its options. It happens more so with enemies that can buff their selves.
3. The 4th hidden ending unless you get lucky will have to Google how to get. I apparently came close to unlocking it by doing all the decisions I was supposed to when I played it blind, except when I did not give Roland to Aesfrost I used the village traps that prevents you from doing the 4th ending.
I honestly think this story gripped me more than the Persona 5 Royal story (Not saying P5R is a masterpiece. Just saying for me its story was very gripping at times and I really enjoyed it). Square Enix's writing team for this game was on point.
The only things I could nitpick would be:
1. The cutscenes lasting too long or there being too many, but the story gets so interesting I eventually did not mind it and wanted to see the story develop further than even play the battles.
2. The enemy AI even when you fast forward them will stand there for a good bit before moving. I guess it takes some time to load or for the AI to decide its options. It happens more so with enemies that can buff their selves.
3. The 4th hidden ending unless you get lucky will have to Google how to get. I apparently came close to unlocking it by doing all the decisions I was supposed to when I played it blind, except when I did not give Roland to Aesfrost I used the village traps that prevents you from doing the 4th ending.
I honestly think this story gripped me more than the Persona 5 Royal story (Not saying P5R is a masterpiece. Just saying for me its story was very gripping at times and I really enjoyed it). Square Enix's writing team for this game was on point.
2010
This was the sequel to the big cliffhanger of a game that God of War 2 was. This was THE rage-fest game to go to. I really felt empowered as Kratos, just like in the previous games. Before God of War 4 came out, this was a fitting ending to the original trilogy and to Kratos' story. This game exceeded my expectations.
1. The graphics were phenomenal for the time, and I think still hold up today.
2. The combat was as simple as ever, but so addicting with a splash of depth to it as far as chaining different moves together.
3. Just about all of the cinematic scenes had me immersed, feeling like I am right there with Kratos on the end of his rage/revenge story, or even making me feel like I am Kratos.
4. The blood and gore were taken to a whole new level never before seen in the God of War series.
Not many games have me wanting to go back and replay them, but this is one of my comfort games. Every time I play I can feel Kratos' emotions and through the previous games understand why he is so mad and why he is just so done with the world and wants it all to burn.
If you have not played this game yet, I suggest you go back and play at least God of War 1 & 2, as jumping into this one not knowing what is going on fully will have you questioning at times why the main character is so mad and makes the decisions he does.
1. The graphics were phenomenal for the time, and I think still hold up today.
2. The combat was as simple as ever, but so addicting with a splash of depth to it as far as chaining different moves together.
3. Just about all of the cinematic scenes had me immersed, feeling like I am right there with Kratos on the end of his rage/revenge story, or even making me feel like I am Kratos.
4. The blood and gore were taken to a whole new level never before seen in the God of War series.
Not many games have me wanting to go back and replay them, but this is one of my comfort games. Every time I play I can feel Kratos' emotions and through the previous games understand why he is so mad and why he is just so done with the world and wants it all to burn.
If you have not played this game yet, I suggest you go back and play at least God of War 1 & 2, as jumping into this one not knowing what is going on fully will have you questioning at times why the main character is so mad and makes the decisions he does.
This is a great remake of a classic game. I really wish they kept it going and did this remake treatment with the other X games, but I am assuming this one did not sell well enough or was just some kind of anniversary project?
This review contains spoilers
This is one of the few Fire Emblem games where I feel like I was being treated as an adult instead of a kid. I got this same feeling from FE4, more so with this game. I really did not think I was going to like this game upon what I heard from fans with how it is known as being newcomer unfriendly, and just a bunch of bs happening all the time. After playing through it myself I can say that this game's difficulty is greatly exaggerated, unless this would be your first game in the series. That is not to say this game is easy, because it is not. Sure, if you know this game like the back of your hand it is easy because you have played it a lot and have studied it, but for a first time playthrough or for the first couple of playthroughs it's one of the harder games in the series (Of course not counting the hardest difficulties in the other games like Conquest, Awakening, Path of Radiance and Shadow Dragon. Their hardest difficulties are not fair to compare to a game like Thracia that only has one difficulty due to it being so old and there not being harder difficulties in the series until FE6 I believe). I do recommend reading a beginner guide on Reddit or a YouTube video or something if you are interested in playing this game blind due to its new mechanics (Some of which are exclusive just to this game), as the game will not explain them to you. That's probably because you were meant to read the instruction manual when it came out on the SNES or watch the VHS tape from the special edition. This pretty much applies to any old game you do not have an instruction manual for though thinking about it.
Pros:
1. This game gives you so many broken and powerful items and characters that are fun to use against the enemy to counteract just about any bs the game throws your way that the vast, vast majority of the time any time something goes wrong it is your fault for not using your tools correctly. I of course won't list every single busted item in this game, but to name a few that you get early on in this game- Light Brand, Flame Sword, Brave Lance, Brave Axe and the Vouge. You are given all these busted items, as well as 2 pre-promoted units (One of which cannot die due to story reasons, but can be captured), and one over-levelled unit (Finn) that stays good the entire game that to me it just made this game feel like a fun playground.
2. The map design in this game is really on point besides a few maps. Most of them feel like they have so much going on that it made me feel as though I was being treated to a full course meal about every chapter.
3. The Crusader Scrolls were so unique and were different from any item I have ever messed around with in the FE series. I loved being able to manipulate my growth rates for each unit, as well as nullifying the potential of critical attacks (Except for the Wrath skill, which is dumb).
4. The story I found to be surprisingly interesting. It's more of a personal story compared to FE4, and it does a really good job of making me feel Leif's struggle and what he had to go through before joining Seliph. There are the few retcons to FE4's story, as far as changing when Leif, Nanna, Ced, and Finn join Seliph's army, but that does not change the main story of FE4 in the grand scheme of things. It is a bit weird that other characters in FE5 just decided not to join Seliph's army after FE5 ends, but again, that's a small retcon that only changes a unit's FE4 join time or if they join at all. Maybe there are other retcons I did not notice, but that's the only thing that stuck out to me.
5. Capturing units I hated in this game at first, but it really grew on me. I find myself missing it in other Fire Emblem games I play. I really like being able to steal an enemy's items and use them as my own. This mechanic really works well for this game to show how much of a struggle Leif's army has that they have to resort to stealing enemy items to make it through the story. There are some grievances I have with the capture mechanic, and think it could be improved upon in a remake or a future game, but I do love using it in this game overall.
6. Unit Level Up Stats. I surprisingly found myself loving the stat caps in this game where everything caps at 20. Cannot really explain why, but I guess it felt like less work compared to other games in the series to make someone good enough to use or for them to catch up if they were not used for a few chapters. I also loved being able to level up Movement. It was always so hype when one of my characters got Movement level ups, especially if they got a bad level up in their other stats. The Movement level up if it happens pops up after the other stats level up screen goes away, so it feels like a nice surprise all the time to me.
7. The gaiden chapter requirements are pretty hard to miss in this game, and make the game so much easier if you play them. The only one really miss-able is if you do not allow one unit to be captured by the enemy or escape without them. I did spoil myself on gaiden requirements due to just wanting to experience everything the game had to offer at the time, but I do think I would have gotten all of them except for the prison one on a completely blind playthrough.
8. Staves having infinite range I was not sure if I would like or not upon starting this game, as I was spoiled of that way before starting it. I fell in love with it, but infinite range staves are definitely not for every FE game in the series of course. It somehow, just works for this game. I guess because they designed most of the maps for infinite range staves in mind. It's nice to not have to bother counting range for the staves compared to other games for once. Just was less thinking for me lol. It's extremely fun to cheese the enemy with them, but of course it feels just as cheesy or bad if you let the enemy use their infinite range staves against you.
9. I love that if you miss with staves in this game you get the full experience still and the durability does not go down for the staff. I did not try to save state miss abuse or anything, but you can do that if it helps you have more fun with the game. Completely up to you.
10. I actually believe Leif is one of the most balanced main character Lords in the entire series. He is not broken, but not useless. He has his uses and he gets stronger as the game goes on. It also depends on what level ups you get of course, but his Light Brand and his other late game sword he gets, the Bragi Sword, are both very nice.
11. I love Movement Stars in this game. It's a really nice feeling I get whenever I get lucky and can use a unit 2 times in one turn without using a dancer. It doesn't need to be in the game, but it adds some extra flair to the game to help it further stand out. It does suck when enemies activate movement stars, but not many of them have it, and you have plenty of time to kill them before they even get a single turn.
12. Trading in Thracia works really well. Being able to trade between multiple units with one unit all at the same time is great. Makes swapping items around really nice and easy. Honestly I wish trading was like this in every Fire Emblem game.
Cons:
1. The hit rate for staves being dependent on your skill per each character is not a crazy big deal. You can miss until you get to at least 10 skill, but that is a small issue due to just levelling your units up or using a skill ring you get early on Nanna or Safy. I cannot recall any time the game told me that you can miss with staves and it being based on your skill, so I believe the game should have told you about that.
2. Xavier's recruitment is bs unless you know what to do, and even when you know what to do if you do not have a Sleep Edge or the right placement you are going to have a bad time recruiting him, let alone getting the Member Card. If you do not know what I am talking about, it would be best to Google it and see how in-depth his recruitment is compared to any other character in the whole Fire Emblem series.
3. Wrath skill being able to crit you, despite your character holding a Crusader Scroll is some stupid bs you cannot prepare for, or just not know about unless you were told about or experienced it yourself. That's inconsistent game design, and it should nullify Wrath crits.
4. The teleport tiles in 16B and 24x are some bs. It's not as much of a problem in 16B because of how unlikely it is for you to be in danger, since the mages will waste a turn rewarping to you, and the forest limiting everyone's movement except for fliers. It's more of a nuisance, since it's an escape map and you will have to wait a much longer time for them to escape due to the limited movement. 24x the warp tiles are an actual danger for any unit on your team due to being teleported to a dungeon with no escape with also being able to get hit with an enemy that can put them to sleep, others that can poison them, and others that can put them to 1HP with one hit. At this point in the game you should have plenty of staves that can get your ally out of the dungeon, but you may end up running out of staves to use due to just not knowing where the tiles are at and being unlucky where you move your units to. I think the tile issue could have been resolved by letting thieves see the tiles that are nearby, or permanently revealing a tile to the player if it was activated once.
5. Chapter 22 Across the River. The only issue I have with this map is Saias himself. He gives 10 authority stars to the enemy, letting them reach a maximum of 19. That really screws you over hit rate-wise. Again, this is only an issue for a first playthrough, as any future playthroughs you will know exactly what to do to make the chapter just another good chapter to play through. You are either expected to use the Warp staff to get to Saias (Who through abilities cannot be captured, killed, or status inflicted, so he's untouchable essentially) and wait a turn for him to go away due to story reasons that are very subtly hinted at for the beginning of the chapter, or wait until turn 40 if I remember correctly from reading online. I think he should leave much sooner to resolve the 19 authority star issue. I played through the chapter without using the Warp staff for a while, and the ballistaes pretty much had a 99% hit rate on all my units. I had to have my units sit there and be ballistae sponges for 10 hits each before I could move forward.
6. This is more nitpicky due to this just being a product of its time, but not being able to re-arrange your unit placement on the Map sucks. You have to un-deploy everyone and deploy them one at a time to see where they go one by one. This matters a good bit in this game due to maps where your army will be split up in 2 or more groups.
7. The arena section in Chapter 5 feels random to me whether or not the enemies will run away and escape or chase Nanna down after Eyvel is turned to stone. That's the only real thing I struggled with on this map. I thought that was dumb.
8. Same Turn Reinforcements. They suck in any Fire Emblem game they are in, unless the game tells you that will happen before you start the game up, and the story lets you know reinforcements are coming and the general area they are coming from. This game does neither some of the time. Some chapters it will let you know reinforcements are coming and where they are coming from.
9. This is a weird con, as this never affected me due to being told before I started it, but escaping first with Leif makes your other units you deployed in the map get auto-captured. With the fan-translation I played it did make it clear that Leif should escape last, but I think that everyone should have to escape for the chapter to end, not just Leif. There is a potential issue where you get soft locked if a unit of yours gets stuck and can't get to the escape area, but I'm sure that could be resolved with an easy enough solution.
N/A:
1. Not sure whether or not to list fatigue as a pro or con. It is fun but also a hindrance. On a blind playthrough you may end up missing out on a gaiden chapter, character recruitments, or special items if the character has too much fatigue from being used in the previous chapter. For a returning player this isn't an issue due to them just knowing what is coming next. It does make you use your other units instead of relying on the same tried and true ones the entire game, but at the same time in one chapter you can buy as many stamina drinks as you want if you have the money, and you get a crap ton of them for free from a gaiden chapter that it makes it feel like the fatigue mechanic does not exist beyond just making your units have one less item slot due to having to carry a stamina drink.
2. I completely understand why Wrath and Vantage not being able to stack works how it is, and essentially just gives you only Vantage, but I am confused still on why the Beo Sword gives you both when you can only use Vantage. Ah well.
3. Only other thing I can think of mechanic-wise is fog of war. I won't list it as a pro or con, but I think it's exaggerated in this game, as you get Torch staves and Torches to use to see, and you should have your tankier units with crusader scrolls if you have them move first into the darkness so you will not have issues like with any Fire Emblem game. I did not find it to be a problem really, I enjoyed it, and tend to enjoy it in any Fire Emblem game.
This game feels like the Majora's Mask of the Fire Emblem series. It's so weird and quirky, and the more I learn about it the more I fall in love with it. I am not one to really care about replaying games, but this is one of the few games I actually have an urge to replay even after just beating it. Feels like a new comfort game to me.
Pros:
1. This game gives you so many broken and powerful items and characters that are fun to use against the enemy to counteract just about any bs the game throws your way that the vast, vast majority of the time any time something goes wrong it is your fault for not using your tools correctly. I of course won't list every single busted item in this game, but to name a few that you get early on in this game- Light Brand, Flame Sword, Brave Lance, Brave Axe and the Vouge. You are given all these busted items, as well as 2 pre-promoted units (One of which cannot die due to story reasons, but can be captured), and one over-levelled unit (Finn) that stays good the entire game that to me it just made this game feel like a fun playground.
2. The map design in this game is really on point besides a few maps. Most of them feel like they have so much going on that it made me feel as though I was being treated to a full course meal about every chapter.
3. The Crusader Scrolls were so unique and were different from any item I have ever messed around with in the FE series. I loved being able to manipulate my growth rates for each unit, as well as nullifying the potential of critical attacks (Except for the Wrath skill, which is dumb).
4. The story I found to be surprisingly interesting. It's more of a personal story compared to FE4, and it does a really good job of making me feel Leif's struggle and what he had to go through before joining Seliph. There are the few retcons to FE4's story, as far as changing when Leif, Nanna, Ced, and Finn join Seliph's army, but that does not change the main story of FE4 in the grand scheme of things. It is a bit weird that other characters in FE5 just decided not to join Seliph's army after FE5 ends, but again, that's a small retcon that only changes a unit's FE4 join time or if they join at all. Maybe there are other retcons I did not notice, but that's the only thing that stuck out to me.
5. Capturing units I hated in this game at first, but it really grew on me. I find myself missing it in other Fire Emblem games I play. I really like being able to steal an enemy's items and use them as my own. This mechanic really works well for this game to show how much of a struggle Leif's army has that they have to resort to stealing enemy items to make it through the story. There are some grievances I have with the capture mechanic, and think it could be improved upon in a remake or a future game, but I do love using it in this game overall.
6. Unit Level Up Stats. I surprisingly found myself loving the stat caps in this game where everything caps at 20. Cannot really explain why, but I guess it felt like less work compared to other games in the series to make someone good enough to use or for them to catch up if they were not used for a few chapters. I also loved being able to level up Movement. It was always so hype when one of my characters got Movement level ups, especially if they got a bad level up in their other stats. The Movement level up if it happens pops up after the other stats level up screen goes away, so it feels like a nice surprise all the time to me.
7. The gaiden chapter requirements are pretty hard to miss in this game, and make the game so much easier if you play them. The only one really miss-able is if you do not allow one unit to be captured by the enemy or escape without them. I did spoil myself on gaiden requirements due to just wanting to experience everything the game had to offer at the time, but I do think I would have gotten all of them except for the prison one on a completely blind playthrough.
8. Staves having infinite range I was not sure if I would like or not upon starting this game, as I was spoiled of that way before starting it. I fell in love with it, but infinite range staves are definitely not for every FE game in the series of course. It somehow, just works for this game. I guess because they designed most of the maps for infinite range staves in mind. It's nice to not have to bother counting range for the staves compared to other games for once. Just was less thinking for me lol. It's extremely fun to cheese the enemy with them, but of course it feels just as cheesy or bad if you let the enemy use their infinite range staves against you.
9. I love that if you miss with staves in this game you get the full experience still and the durability does not go down for the staff. I did not try to save state miss abuse or anything, but you can do that if it helps you have more fun with the game. Completely up to you.
10. I actually believe Leif is one of the most balanced main character Lords in the entire series. He is not broken, but not useless. He has his uses and he gets stronger as the game goes on. It also depends on what level ups you get of course, but his Light Brand and his other late game sword he gets, the Bragi Sword, are both very nice.
11. I love Movement Stars in this game. It's a really nice feeling I get whenever I get lucky and can use a unit 2 times in one turn without using a dancer. It doesn't need to be in the game, but it adds some extra flair to the game to help it further stand out. It does suck when enemies activate movement stars, but not many of them have it, and you have plenty of time to kill them before they even get a single turn.
12. Trading in Thracia works really well. Being able to trade between multiple units with one unit all at the same time is great. Makes swapping items around really nice and easy. Honestly I wish trading was like this in every Fire Emblem game.
Cons:
1. The hit rate for staves being dependent on your skill per each character is not a crazy big deal. You can miss until you get to at least 10 skill, but that is a small issue due to just levelling your units up or using a skill ring you get early on Nanna or Safy. I cannot recall any time the game told me that you can miss with staves and it being based on your skill, so I believe the game should have told you about that.
2. Xavier's recruitment is bs unless you know what to do, and even when you know what to do if you do not have a Sleep Edge or the right placement you are going to have a bad time recruiting him, let alone getting the Member Card. If you do not know what I am talking about, it would be best to Google it and see how in-depth his recruitment is compared to any other character in the whole Fire Emblem series.
3. Wrath skill being able to crit you, despite your character holding a Crusader Scroll is some stupid bs you cannot prepare for, or just not know about unless you were told about or experienced it yourself. That's inconsistent game design, and it should nullify Wrath crits.
4. The teleport tiles in 16B and 24x are some bs. It's not as much of a problem in 16B because of how unlikely it is for you to be in danger, since the mages will waste a turn rewarping to you, and the forest limiting everyone's movement except for fliers. It's more of a nuisance, since it's an escape map and you will have to wait a much longer time for them to escape due to the limited movement. 24x the warp tiles are an actual danger for any unit on your team due to being teleported to a dungeon with no escape with also being able to get hit with an enemy that can put them to sleep, others that can poison them, and others that can put them to 1HP with one hit. At this point in the game you should have plenty of staves that can get your ally out of the dungeon, but you may end up running out of staves to use due to just not knowing where the tiles are at and being unlucky where you move your units to. I think the tile issue could have been resolved by letting thieves see the tiles that are nearby, or permanently revealing a tile to the player if it was activated once.
5. Chapter 22 Across the River. The only issue I have with this map is Saias himself. He gives 10 authority stars to the enemy, letting them reach a maximum of 19. That really screws you over hit rate-wise. Again, this is only an issue for a first playthrough, as any future playthroughs you will know exactly what to do to make the chapter just another good chapter to play through. You are either expected to use the Warp staff to get to Saias (Who through abilities cannot be captured, killed, or status inflicted, so he's untouchable essentially) and wait a turn for him to go away due to story reasons that are very subtly hinted at for the beginning of the chapter, or wait until turn 40 if I remember correctly from reading online. I think he should leave much sooner to resolve the 19 authority star issue. I played through the chapter without using the Warp staff for a while, and the ballistaes pretty much had a 99% hit rate on all my units. I had to have my units sit there and be ballistae sponges for 10 hits each before I could move forward.
6. This is more nitpicky due to this just being a product of its time, but not being able to re-arrange your unit placement on the Map sucks. You have to un-deploy everyone and deploy them one at a time to see where they go one by one. This matters a good bit in this game due to maps where your army will be split up in 2 or more groups.
7. The arena section in Chapter 5 feels random to me whether or not the enemies will run away and escape or chase Nanna down after Eyvel is turned to stone. That's the only real thing I struggled with on this map. I thought that was dumb.
8. Same Turn Reinforcements. They suck in any Fire Emblem game they are in, unless the game tells you that will happen before you start the game up, and the story lets you know reinforcements are coming and the general area they are coming from. This game does neither some of the time. Some chapters it will let you know reinforcements are coming and where they are coming from.
9. This is a weird con, as this never affected me due to being told before I started it, but escaping first with Leif makes your other units you deployed in the map get auto-captured. With the fan-translation I played it did make it clear that Leif should escape last, but I think that everyone should have to escape for the chapter to end, not just Leif. There is a potential issue where you get soft locked if a unit of yours gets stuck and can't get to the escape area, but I'm sure that could be resolved with an easy enough solution.
N/A:
1. Not sure whether or not to list fatigue as a pro or con. It is fun but also a hindrance. On a blind playthrough you may end up missing out on a gaiden chapter, character recruitments, or special items if the character has too much fatigue from being used in the previous chapter. For a returning player this isn't an issue due to them just knowing what is coming next. It does make you use your other units instead of relying on the same tried and true ones the entire game, but at the same time in one chapter you can buy as many stamina drinks as you want if you have the money, and you get a crap ton of them for free from a gaiden chapter that it makes it feel like the fatigue mechanic does not exist beyond just making your units have one less item slot due to having to carry a stamina drink.
2. I completely understand why Wrath and Vantage not being able to stack works how it is, and essentially just gives you only Vantage, but I am confused still on why the Beo Sword gives you both when you can only use Vantage. Ah well.
3. Only other thing I can think of mechanic-wise is fog of war. I won't list it as a pro or con, but I think it's exaggerated in this game, as you get Torch staves and Torches to use to see, and you should have your tankier units with crusader scrolls if you have them move first into the darkness so you will not have issues like with any Fire Emblem game. I did not find it to be a problem really, I enjoyed it, and tend to enjoy it in any Fire Emblem game.
This game feels like the Majora's Mask of the Fire Emblem series. It's so weird and quirky, and the more I learn about it the more I fall in love with it. I am not one to really care about replaying games, but this is one of the few games I actually have an urge to replay even after just beating it. Feels like a new comfort game to me.
2016
Game was a blast when it first came out, until it spent too long not adding anything worthwhile to the game, and as a result I abandoned it. It also grinded my gears that people would drive their vehicles to the different towers to become the leader again, when I would run or walk over to it. Kinda defeats the purpose of the game when you use your vehicle wasting gas like that, but okay.
This review contains spoilers
Enjoyed myself. Once I figured out that it is not a Devil May Cry game where you hack and slash, and it's more of a patience is key and exploit your enemy's weakness game the combat became easy, but not what I wanted. Story definitely trolls fans of the original game, as it is not a remake, but is a sequel instead. Random spikes in difficulty here and there that are frustrating.
-Replayed in March 2024-
I replayed the game on PS5 (Played it on PS4 first time) to refresh my memory since Rebirth was around the corner. I do not know how I did not notice the whole shimmying around tight places a lot acting as load screens part, but it was very annoying on a replay years later. I played the game on Easy mode just to refresh my mind on the story, and I sorta regret it because of how Easy it was. Just about whenever any battle would start it would end just as fast. Game is of course still good. The whole debateable time travel tomfoolery that Sephiroth does makes everything so confusing in this game. I know the original PS1 game had you asking yourself a lot of questions as you left Midgar, but in this sequel game they end up throwing more questions at you with Zack being alive but maybe in a different reality, Sephiroth showing up earlier, all the planet ghosts and the arbiters of fate and what all that stuff means beyond the general 'You must do the same events from the PS1 game. You are not allowed to make different decisions, and if you lose against us you will repeat the events of the first game without knowing any better. We hate time travel.' stuff. It may not even be time travel, but at the same time I do not know how else to make sense of this story, unless you want to say this game takes place in a different reality or universe from the PS1 game where Sephiroth decides to do different things for an unknown reason without time travelling and makes the planet butthurt over that and wanting to set things back to their original places. Also, Aerith seemingly knowing at least some events of the PS1 game in this sequel but refusing to tell people anything beyond being very vague and cryptic is a bunch of bs... just for her to later forget the future after you leave Midgar and beat the arbiters of fate and Sephiroth. The game was at first having me think she and Sephiroth would be playing a chess game changing events up in an attempt to win against each other being the only two who know of the future, but it looks like that won't be a thing.
I'unno, hopefully Rebirth will explain things.
-Replayed in March 2024-
I replayed the game on PS5 (Played it on PS4 first time) to refresh my memory since Rebirth was around the corner. I do not know how I did not notice the whole shimmying around tight places a lot acting as load screens part, but it was very annoying on a replay years later. I played the game on Easy mode just to refresh my mind on the story, and I sorta regret it because of how Easy it was. Just about whenever any battle would start it would end just as fast. Game is of course still good. The whole debateable time travel tomfoolery that Sephiroth does makes everything so confusing in this game. I know the original PS1 game had you asking yourself a lot of questions as you left Midgar, but in this sequel game they end up throwing more questions at you with Zack being alive but maybe in a different reality, Sephiroth showing up earlier, all the planet ghosts and the arbiters of fate and what all that stuff means beyond the general 'You must do the same events from the PS1 game. You are not allowed to make different decisions, and if you lose against us you will repeat the events of the first game without knowing any better. We hate time travel.' stuff. It may not even be time travel, but at the same time I do not know how else to make sense of this story, unless you want to say this game takes place in a different reality or universe from the PS1 game where Sephiroth decides to do different things for an unknown reason without time travelling and makes the planet butthurt over that and wanting to set things back to their original places. Also, Aerith seemingly knowing at least some events of the PS1 game in this sequel but refusing to tell people anything beyond being very vague and cryptic is a bunch of bs... just for her to later forget the future after you leave Midgar and beat the arbiters of fate and Sephiroth. The game was at first having me think she and Sephiroth would be playing a chess game changing events up in an attempt to win against each other being the only two who know of the future, but it looks like that won't be a thing.
I'unno, hopefully Rebirth will explain things.